Charcoal is a widely used barbecue product that comes into direct and indirect contact with the foods ingested. Thus, it must have adequate technical characteristics so that its consumption is not harmful to the environment and human beings. This study aimed to investigate the quality of charcoal for use in domestic barbecue, relating different brands and commercial categories. Products from different brands were collected in two consecutive years, in five different commercial categories: supermarket chain; independent supermarkets; meat market; gas station; and other establishments. The physical, chemical and mechanical properties of charcoal were analyzed. Data were analyzed by uni- and multivariate methods. High variability of product characteristics according to brands, commercial categories and years of collection was detected. In addition, some briquettes marketed as charcoal had characteristics unsuitable for use in barbecue, such as high moisture content (> 9%), high ash content (> 10%) and high friability. Charcoal made available for domestic barbecue has high variability of its technical characteristics for combustion and not all of them were suitable for the use in barbecue.

木炭是一种广泛使用的烧烤产品，可与摄入的食物直接或间接接触。因此，它必须具有足够的技术特性，以使其消费对环境和人类无害。这项研究旨在调查家用烧烤用木炭的质量，涉及不同品牌和商业类别。连续两年从五个不同的商业类别中收集了来自不同品牌的产品：超级市场连锁店；独立超级市场；肉类市场; 加油站; 和其他机构。分析了木炭的物理，化学和机械性能。通过单变量和多变量方法分析数据。根据品牌，商业类别和收集年限，发现产品特性差异很大。此外，一些市售的木炭煤球具有不适合烧烤的特性，例如高水分（> 9％），高灰分（> 10％）和高脆性。可用于家用烧烤的木炭的燃烧技术特性差异很大，并非所有的木炭都适合用于烧烤。